The present invention relates to devices for the disabled user that enable the disabled user to be raised from a seated position to a supported standing position and, more-particularly, to devices that enable the disabled user to raise himself/herself from a seated position to a supported standing position independently, i.e. without the aid of an intervening party.
Disabled wheel chair users and other individuals with limited trunk or leg control, experience difficulties in moving their limbs and other parts of the body. Further, subjects who maintain prolonged sedentary sleeping or sitting positions, due to muscle and limb limitations or disabilities, experience, inter alia, atrophy of the limbs and muscles. The inability of a person to flex the muscles coupled with a loss of sensation contributes to nerve degeneration and eventually will result in the muscles undergoing atrophy. In the absence of physical therapy, these individuals will suffer not only from progressive muscular weakness but declining health because of poor fluid circulation, and diminishing kidney, lung and cardiac efficiencies.
Existing therapeutic methods include a regimen of flexion and extension of various parts of the body performed with the aid of a therapist. Generally, these methods employ various mechanical supports to position the patient in a vertical and/or supine posture. Movements of the trunk or neck, the forearm and the legs in a flexion and extension manner are then performed with the assistance of the therapist. While these methods are useful, they are not conducive to universal applications because of inherent limitations. Primarily, the method employed by current disability management and therapy is labor intensive and requires a continuous attendance and help by the therapist. Further, current methods and devices do not enable a coordinated and repeated multiple muscle movement and do not reform the disabled limb to follow/assume the most clinically desirable motion/orientation to efficiently tone major parts of the body. For example, a person with a paralyzed lower limb extends the stiffly extended limb in a partial arch when walking. A therapist may have to xe2x80x9cforcexe2x80x9d the partial arc into a straight forward motion. However, in the absence of a restraining device, such forced motions may not be precisely repeatable and are frequently laborious. Accordingly, depending on the type of the disability, a sequence of precise, repeatable beneficial movements may not be possible unless the patient is placed in such a position, posture and orientation to enable specific muscular and body movements.
More importantly, current therapy methods and devices require maintenance of a patient-therapist interaction. Generally, the patient is required to be physically present at a clinic or hospital to enable the therapist to help in performing the therapeutic exercises. Consequently, patients needing to perform the exercises on an intensive basis are faced with the burdensome prospect of frequently visiting their therapist at a clinic or hospital. These difficulties are particularly burdensome to patients who live in remote areas and who need to be on a permanent therapy program. Further, presently available therapeutic devices are designed for use in hospitals or clinics and are not conducive for individual home use. In spite of the proliferation of exercise and health enhancing equipment designed for use by the average physically fit person, there is a serious lack. of exercise and ergonomic support equipment for home use by disabled and wheel chair bound individuals. Specifically, there is a need for devices which enable a disabled person to independently perform therapeutic exercises on a self-directed basis. Further, there is a serious lack of stand-support devices for wheel chair bound persons to enable them to form into clinically beneficial and ergonomically sound postures. Such devices are most desirable to enhance the health and independence of a disabled person.
Some of the most critical factors in the design and implementation of ergonomic apparatus for wheel chair bound and disabled individuals include features such as availability, maintainability and simplicity. For example, to be independently operable by a wheel chair bound person the device must have features which enable ease of transfer mount/ dismount from the wheel chair to the device and vise versa. Further there should, preferably, be no assembly and disassembly involved to change from one posture to the next or from one exercise regimen to the other. Additionally, all pressure surfaces including contact and positioning surfaces should be designed to eliminate shear, torsion and similar stresses to avoid aggravation and injury to limbs and body parts. This is particularly important as it relates to users who have lost sensation in the legs, knees and certain parts of the body. In cases such as these, therapeutic methods which impart shock, impact, stresses and the like to parts of the body where the subject has lost sensation may inflict tissue, muscle and skeletal damage without the user knowing of the injury until a later diagnosis.
Accordingly, there is a need for assemblies which help disabled persons to form into ergonomic postures, without outside intervention such as a therapist, for task sitting, standing, ambulating and exercising purposes. Preferably, such assemblies would have features to enable a self-directed easy mount and dismount to and from a bed, wheel chair or any other similar support. More preferably, the assemblies would include features designed to provide full natural movements and support of the limbs and the body at all postures and activity events.
While many devices and methods for lifting and orienting disabled individuals in a substantially vertical and/or supine orientation exist, the applicant is unfamiliar with any assembly which disclose the structures and the combinational advantages of the present invention. Applicant is familiar with lift mechanisms and assemblies which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,054,852; 4,569,094 and 4,725,056. These assemblies do not provide fore, aft and lateral ergonomic supports and are generally complex in structure and operations.
Applicant is also aware of disclosures made in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,545,616; 4,456,086 and 4,054,319 which teach seat assemblies that provide for seated and upright postures. Those seat assemblies, however, lack adequate pressure surfaces and lateral structures, and are cumbersome for a user to mount and dismount. Further, applicant is aware of wheelchairs including seat mounted, hydraulic assist cylinders, which facilitate a standing posture for users who have partial use of their lower limbs and which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,023,048; 4,569,556 and 4,632,455.Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,151 discloses a person support assembly for ambulation. However, none of the references address the problems and issues outlined above.
Accordingly there is a need for a rehabilitation and therapeutic system capable of transposing a wheel chair bound and/or disabled person into various preferred and healthy postural configurations, to maintain comfortable ergonomic ranges to a task seating work station and to further enable standing, ambulation and therapeutic exercise to thereby enhance health, independence and productivity.
The present invention relates to various assemblies which enable users with appreciably limited muscular, body and coordination control to assume ergonomic postures for task seating, standing, ambulation and physical exercise. Particularly, the invention provides secure support and positioning mechanisms to safely aid the user through an entire process involving transfer from a wheel chair to the assemblies. The mechanisms also assist the user to assume a desired posture and provide ergonomic and integral support after the user is situated in the desired posture. More particularly, the use of the present invention does not require the help of a therapist or additional muscle control on the part of the user. The assemblies of the present invention are advantageously structured and adjustably implemented to enable users, with a broad range of muscular and body coordination disabilities in addition to wide variations in physical size and configurations, to perform the many useful and advantageous activities safely and efficiently made possible by the invention.
More particularly, the invention relates to lift systems of various embodiments advantageously structured to lift a wheel chair bound or similarly situated person to a substantially vertical postural orientation for task standing, ambulation and exercise. Specifically some embodiments of the invention relate to a vertical lift device for positioning, a wheel chair bound or similarly situated user, into a substantially standing posture while enabling safe movement and ambulation. Another embodiment provides a self-activated lift system for positioning and securing a wheel chair bound or disabled person in a substantially vertical orientation to enable dynamic leg motion and full body exercise ranging from mild to vigorous workouts. Yet another embodiment of the invention provides a quick and smooth transition from a sitting position to a substantially standing position and is particularly conducive to disabled users who otherwise have good upper body balance and strength. Further, another embodiment relates to a system which enables a wheel chair bound person to transpose into a standing position without transferring to an intermediate structure such as a seat. The system utilizes a flexible slingoidal pressure surface with specialized friction and support patterns structured to provide gluteal and lumbosacral support.
One of the many objectives of the embodiments disclosed in the invention is to enable a disabled person to experience a variety of clinically desirable postures while promoting economic self-reliance, safety and health. Specifically, the embodiments provide various features which include ease of adjustments for statistical variance in the users"" weight, height, physical configurations and the like.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a user controlled drive system with safety lock mechanisms including a center of gravity stabilization assembly to prevent tipping.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a substantially flexible slingoidal pressure surface, adaptable to a wheel-chair, bed and similar body support structure. The slingoidal pressure surface includes strategically placed attachments which enable the slingoidal pressure surface, in cooperation with uniquely set structural assemblies, to cradle the gluteal and back regions while simultaneously transferring and lifting the user from a wheel chair to a substantially standing position.
Another object of the invention is to provide a quick and smooth lift of a wheel chair bound person from a sitting position to a standing posture. The assembly is particularly advantageous for users with appreciable upper body strength with disabilities and/or appreciable limited control of the lower limb and muscles. Lift-handles featuring articulating loop geometries are advantageously implemented to provide multifunctions including structural support for the seat, actuation of the lift mechanism and provision of lateral support to the user.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an exercise machine to enable safe, dynamic and repeatable leg and upper body motion and exercise while the user is standing. The assembly includes adjustable resistance for programmed exercise and workout. One of the many unique innovations of the assembly includes a knee support structure and pressure surface which eliminates vertical shear, friction, torsional and lateral stresses and maintains the knee in preferably orthoangular alignment with the motion of the legs. Further, pressure surfaces are implemented to keep the user in a secure and ergonomically desirable orientation to promote full extension and flexion of the upper body and limbs.